Monday, November 12, 2012

Remembering Egypt (part 2 of 2)

In his desire to make
it so that the people of Israel “remember the day” that they “came out of the
land of Egypt” all the days of their lives, Moses continues to present the
mighty hand and outstretched arm of Israel’s faithful God, recounting “His signs
and His deeds that He did in Egypt…and what He did to the army of Egypt” (Deuteronomy
11:3-4). Though the people continued to cast their eyes and hopes
backwards in a longing for what they thought of as simpler days, Moses bids
them look forward, saying that “the land that you are entering to take
possession of it is not like the land of Egypt” (11:10). Because it is
the land that is the covenant gift of their God, it is better. So that
they would not be taken by faulty memories of supposed freedom from the want of
the wilderness, Moses speaks again of the Lord “Who brought you out of the land
of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery” (13:5). Belaboring
the point, Moses repeatedly refers to “the land of Egypt” as “the house of
slavery” (13:10), regardless of the people’s present struggles as they made
their way to their promised land. He goes on to quite bluntly inform the
people to “remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord
your God redeemed you” (15:15).

When they came to the
season of Passover, its purpose was to remind the people that “the Lord your
God brought you out of Egypt by night” (16:1). They were to remember that
they “came out of the land of Egypt in haste” (16:3), wasting no time at all in
coming out, because of the great oppression “of the land of Egypt”
(16:3). Moses was very clear in telling the people that God was giving
them this celebration of remembrance to mark “the time you came out of Egypt”
(16:6), with each person reminding himself, “that you were a slave in Egypt”
(16:12). God wanted His people to have a clean break from Egypt, relying
on it for nothing, not even allowing one of their future kings to consider a
“return to Egypt to acquire many horses” (17:16). God is clear in
informing His people that He can provide them all things of need and
value. Even in the midst of the fear of those who would come against them
with horses and chariots, they were not to turn back, but find value in calling
to mind that “the Lord your God is with you, Who brought you up out of the land
of Egypt” (20:1). It was made to be understood that there was power in
remembering the deliverance provided by the Lord.

Even their dealings
with foreign nations were to be defined by such remembrance. Ammonites
and Moabites were not allowed to “enter the assembly of the Lord” (23:3).
Why was this? “Because they did not meet you with bread and with water on
the way, when you came out of Egypt” (23:4). Israel’s treatment of
foreigners, the fatherless, and widows was determined according to God’s
deliverance, regulated by the remembrance “that you were a slave in the land of
Egypt” (24:22). Later in Israel’s history, God would direct His kings to
show no mercy to the Amalekites, because of what they “did to you on the way as
you came out of Egypt” (25:17).

When the people told
their story, they were to include the fact that their forefathers “went down
into Egypt and sojourned there” (26:5), even though the slavery experienced
there would be a source of shame and derision. This part of the story
must be told, for then the rest of the story, that of their faithful, covenant
God could be told, and the people could exclaim that “the Lord brought us out
of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror,
with signs and wonders” (26:8). This story of their covenant God would
necessarily include a recounting of the potential for blessings or curses which
He presented to them. The dreaded curses spoke of “the boils of Egypt”
(28:27), and “the diseases of Egypt” (28:60), recounting the plagues that
befell those that would attempt to stand against this mighty God. The
greatest of all of the curses associated with Israel’s failure to be faithful
to the demands of the covenant, would be for “the Lord” to “bring you back in
ships to Egypt” to “offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and
female slaves” (28:68).

As he is reported to
have worked towards the conclusion of his message to the people, once again,
Moses is heard to declare that “You have seen all that the Lord did before your
eyes in the land of Egypt” (29:2). Lest the people begin to be deceived
by the recollections of the life lived in Egypt, Moses says “You know how we
lived in the land of Egypt” (29:16). If the people began to engage in the
practices in which, no doubt, many were engaging in while living in their land
of slavery, the Lord would bring calamity upon His people, and “Then people
would say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of
their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of
Egypt, and went and served other gods and worshiped them’.” (29:25) God’s
people would know, by this daily remembrance, that when misfortune befell them,
such perdition was of themselves.

The Creator God,
through Moses, seems to have repeated Himself a great deal here. With
that, we who assent to the confession of the covenant (Jesus is Lord) can take
a moment to agree and say “Yes, we would do very well indeed to keep the
memories of where it was from which our God redeemed His covenant people, and
that from which He delivered, close at hand and near to our hearts.” We
do well to remember being dragged out of the house of slavery (which is no
doubt on the mind of somebody like the Apostle Paul, in his references to
slavery), but along with that, to remember the place that God had originally
intended for His creation, and the place from which the divine image bearers
fell. In this, we can have a vision of the place to which our God is
bringing us in restoration and renewal and salvation. Indeed, as it was
of great value for God’s covenant people in that day, so it is of great value
for God’s covenant people in this day, to not only remember that He brings into
covenant for a purpose, but also to hearken to the words spoken by the man who
spoke to God face to face, to cast our eyes rearward, so “that all the days of
your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of
Egypt.”